Jack Thorne, the award-winning writer who co-wrote Adolescence with Stephen Graham, has spoken about the powerful effect the one-shot filming technique had on the show's storytelling.
It's become one of the big talking points around the show, which has been sitting at number one in Netflix's UK top 10 ever since its release, in addition of course to conversations it has sparked around its important themes.
Each individual episode of the four-parter was filmed in one single take, and Thorne told Digital Spy that this really allowed for Adolescence's complexity.
"The one take forces you to be partial," he said of the creative process. "What you can't do is tell the whole story, you can only tell bits of the story. You can only look one way for an hour, and then you have to stop looking. And that thing of the unblinking eye forces you into complexity, and hopefully forces the audience into complexity."
"Because you're not telling the story in a traditional way," Thorne added, before referencing certain elements – such as the potential for more moments between Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) and his father Eddie (Graham), that couldn't be explored.
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"As a writer, let alone the telling of it [he gestured towards director Philip Barantini], that forces you into interesting conversations."
Barantini, whose previous work includes the critically-acclaimed Boiling Point – which also used the one-shot style, went on to add that the finished product of Adolescence was a group effort.
He told Digital Spy that it was "a real process" between himself, Thorne, Graham and the rest of the cast.
"Making it feel real, and making it feel like they are living [and] breathing these characters, [like] they're real people," he explained.
Well, we named it the best show of the year so far for a reason.
Adolescence is available now on Netflix.
TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK's biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world's oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).
